Swiss Chapter of

Opendata.ch/2016 Unconf

In parallel to the Opendata.ch/2016 Conference on Tuesday, June 14th, 2016 at Casino de Montbenon in Lausanne, we will run a participant-driven (BarCamp style) unconference track. Ideas for brief (~15 min) talks and meetup topics can be suggested online or the morning of the conference. The current list of accepted unconference topics is shown below:

We all are part of a vast production system, as consuming and producing nodes in a global supply chain network. However, our horizon is limited. Often a single node knows little about where its input is coming from and little about where its output is going to. KnowTheFlow aims at combining local information of input and output to collectively form a recurrent network, a directed graph. By collectively sharing local information our horizon can be expanded beyond the individual limits. KnowTheFlow is a mass collaboration project where data is systematically collected at different levels of specificity and continuously refined and cross-linked.

How can we provide an alternative directory, where people are their own decidors who will use published data, which conditions, and OpenData compatible, not “privated” and “abuse” resell (like Local.ch), or “no idea how used” (like Google, Facebook) ! I dream to create the OpenLocal.ch project

Self-described researchers have recently released scraped OKCupid profiles on an open data repository. We will use this incident as a case study to discuss emerging moral, ethical and legal challenges to the open data movement.

Lots of people at Opendata.ch/2016 will be involved in sharing knowledge about open data publishing and applications. It seems like a great opportunity to get together to discuss what works most effectively, in what formats (workshops, offline and online courses, open literature, tools) and where we might share or help contribute to each other’s materials.

At past Swiss Open Data Camps we had a few ideas around the theme of open legal data, while constantly exploring the boundaries of what we can legally do with data. We have aimed to fully understand and debate the conditions of use, while championing openness. The 2013 Law Mining Hackathon was run as a satellite workshop at the Open Knowledge Conference in Geneva. Thanks to our sponsors for making this event possible, and to all experts and participants, who made it a resounding success!

Live Projects

Many legal decisions, or case results, on national and international levels are available online – but are not accessible enough. The aims of our largest team were to create an open framework and platform architecture that allows users and diverse applications easy access to case law data. Concepts, designs, live demos and visualizations have been developed, including: Human Rights Case Laws, Case Law Linked Data, and an open search engine for the Swiss Supreme Court.

This project aims to make the everyday work of law practitioners easier by making valuable resources on the Open Web easier to find. Users can search by region, type, filetype, and tags across a variety of domains especially relevant to European law. It is live and available here: http://www.openlaws.eu/

A simple idea with an aim to help lift legal and technical restrictions on data, and get rapid community response to changes of terms of use. The Open Data Button is an easy, social way to share the fact that you are prevented from accessing data in some way. The project is live: http://button.datalets.ch

Taking data protection and privacy legislation as a case study, this team assessed a range of government websites and rated them according to criteria from the Declaration of Parliamentary Openness. The resulting map of world legislative standards is here: http://cdb.io/19dvTYx

Initiatives

During the hackathon we agreed to help revitalize the OKFN incumbent Working Group for Open Legislation, and one of the experts at our event has taken on moderation responsibilities. Please sign up to join in, share ideas, and broaden the debate.

This team discussed the legal guidelines we were using at the hackathon, and provided suggestions (in French) for making improvements to the way teams agreed on licensing conditions that could attract more varied participation and commercial support in the future.

Case Law

Law Usability

Upcoming Events

Law-themed hackdays around the world – such as the BLIP Legal Hackathon and at Harvard Law School – have demonstrated the value for people familiar with legal questions, as well as participants from the crowd.

Law Mining Hackathon 2013 organizers

Participants

Makers get things done – and what they do counts, their efforts bring real change. Your ideas and competence are in high demand to shape the future of how we deal with data in the interconnected world. To participate in this camp everyone is qualified, no matter what level of expertise you have with the Web, programming, or Information Technology. Have a look at some of the general profiles of people who tend to take part at hackdays, and come along even if this is something you’ve never done before! If you have colleagues in these areas, please invite them to join in.

The most important is to be there early, as projects and teams will start forming in the morning. Of course, you’ll be able to join an existing group at any point in the hackathon, but being there from the start gives you the best chance to speak up about your ideas in the brainstorm, excite others about what you care about, become a valued core member and contributor. So check the schedule, get a good night’s sleep, and get down to the hackathon ready to make history!

The very first thing we’ll ask you to do is tick a checkmark on your Maker Badge. It lets you begin by making a statement to your fellow participants: here is what I am interested in, here is the role I want to have on the team. If you’re struggling to decide what role to take up (as newcomers often do!), talk about your concerns to the first person you see, or come see one of the friendly event staff.

Ideators

people like us who want to make improvements in their community

public officials who wish to help advance open access for e-government

subject matter experts who have data and want to collaborate and share it: for this Open Data Camp, these would often be people with experience in the topics of legal information, the law online, digital legislation

Designers

find out about the evolving information visualization discipline

use the opportunity to build skills while having fun with graphics

get involved in the openness movement for fame and glory on the Web

Developers

learn tools and techniques for accessing public data sources

collaborate with designers and experts on creating exciting applications

you do not need to be a programmer, data is a powerful tool that everyone can use

Ideators, Designers and Developers work with open data – for transparency, innovation and efficiency!

Switzerland’s national Open Data Camps bring thinkers and makers together to discuss critical questions, create prototypes (such as apps and visualisations), and help accelerate openness, innovation and efficiency in private and public domains.

We are currently starting a project to revamp the infrastructure for MAKE events. Some upcoming hackathons are only listed at hack.opendata.ch, our new platform and a community project itself. If you have any feedback or wish to support this in any way, please talk to us at the Opendata.ch/2017 conference or just drop us a note/tweet!

Participants

To participate in our camps everyone is qualified, no matter what level of expertise you have with the Web, programming, or IT. For the next camp we are also in particularly looking for people with experience in the topics of finance, monetary policy, budgets, and folks with experience with and/or interest in data visualization who would like to contribute with his developer-skills to amazing ideas and projects. If you have any friends in these areas, please invite them to come along.

Together thinkers and doers get things done and make a difference. Your ideas and your competence are in high demand to shape the future of how we deal with data in this country, so if you too feel it’s time to make a difference sign up as:

Ideators

people who want to change things in their community

subject matter experts who have data and want to collaborate/share it

public officials who want to help further open access for eGovernment

Designers

find out about evolving information visualization discipline

an opportunity to build skills and work with interactive graphics

help publicise and spread the message of open access

Developers

learn tools and techniques for accessing public data sources

collaborate with designers and innovators on exciting applications

help build an outstanding platform for connecting interest across Switzerland

The community effort kicked off by Make.Opendata.ch is an important complement to political activities and public relations. Our goal is to raise awareness and support for openness and innovation through Open Data.

This initiative is politically independent and not bound to any particular party or funding source.